Top of the morning for you. And a good one it is. Plenty of sunshine and clear blue skies once again envelop the Pharmalot campus, where the official mascots roam the grounds in search of critters to annoy. As for us, we are as busy as ever hunting and gathering items of interest. We trust you have your own busy schedules. So join us as we raise our ever-present cup of stimulation—our pick today is coconut rum—and tackle our rapidly growing to-do list. Have a great day everyone and stay connected. …

23andMe, the genetics startup that has repeatedly captured the public’s imagination and then faced near-fatal business challenges, has announced it will halt efforts to develop new drugs and lay off 40 percent of its workforce, focusing instead on the sale of genetic tests to consumers and the use of the resulting results. data for research, STATE write. By closing its therapeutics division and laying off 200 people, 23andMe ended a bold bet it made nearly a decade ago — that it could use the genetic data it had collected not only to help drug companies but and to become one. Over the course of this year, its stock has fallen 72%, and its market cap, which was $3.5 billion when it went public in 2021, is now just $111 million.

AstraZeneca has had to resubmit a closely watched drug for US approval in patients with another form of lung cancer, a step that will delay its arrival on the market and add questions about how widely it could be used., STATE tells us The drug, Dato-DXd, is a type of next-generation chemotherapy called an antibody-drug conjugate in which AstraZeneca and other companies are investing heavily. AstraZeneca, which is partnering with Daiichi Sankyo on the drug, has cited Dato-DXd as one of the products that will help it double its revenue to $80 billion by 2030. The companies have applied for Food Administration approval and US Medicines in February to treat advanced nonsquamous. non-small cell lung cancer, but instead filed a new application for Dato-DXd in non-small cell lung cancer patients with an EGFR gene mutation. Meanwhile, the company has not released many new details about the investigations employees are facing in China over allegations of health insurance fraud, illegal drug importation and personal information breaches. “We take the issues in China very seriously,” chief executive Pascal Soriot said in a statement. Finally, AstraZeneca plans to invest $3.5 billion to expand its US R&D and manufacturing operations by 2026.

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